#random research

[metatemu]

Just in case you're curious for curiosity's sake, the 18th dynasty came right after the Theban rule was established with the expulsion of the Hyksos rulers, who were West Semitic rulers from the Canaanite people (placing the Pharaoh of Exodus before Rameses the Second, since the Canaanites were an established peoples) and when Ahmose the First took over, the Theban capitol was established, and the Nubian and Ethiopian rule over Lower Egypt was established.

Genetic dating from 2022 places Tutankhamen (whom Atem is based on) as sub-saharan in majority, with West Asian genealogy as well, along with Amenhotep the Third, making the Theban dynasty sub-saharan in origin, before Ptomely's dynasty, which is greek, and the next after the 18th.

[no-no-nozomi]

A random research

My conclusion is that I don’t have any friends that wants to give me a shit

And from this on they’re about the five nordic countries separately

*additional information—for us people in the eastern hemisphere, all we know about Finland are Santa Claus, Aurora and moomins. Most of them won’t even have “death metal” or “rock” crossed in their minds, unless they’re hardcore fans. (I’m actually quite impressed by that one friend who answered music shows)

*additional information—there are quite a lot of IKEA branches here so Sweden is actually quite well-known, also considering Sweden is the most iconic nordic nowadays (lmao sorry Denmark), the results are quite legit.

*my own comment—actually I didn’t know Denmark is a part of nordics at first, I thought it was next to the Netherlands. I expected at least some of them will answer Anderson(or the little mermaid), but apparently they don’t even know that Anderson is danish💁‍♀️ Also that cookie brand was extremely popular in my place, I don’t even know why

Another country I thought it was next to the Netherlands. I’m a bit disappointed that no one answered Norwegian forest cats, that’s the first thing I’ve ever heard about Norway!

Ok…no comment

[aetherhollowarchive]

SO, I found these pics, and they are almost exactly like I pictured the world in my story. They are from a game, as far as I understand - Lost Order, but I think it’s only in Japanese so far. Obviously, these pictures do NOT belong to me, but they are soooo pretty <3

I thought I’d share these and distract you with a little piece of worldbuilding and a little science.  Nerding under the cut:

So, the planet in TAA universe has a weaker magnetic core than Earth’s and it is easier for solar winds to penetrate through it. These huge bursts of charged particles from the sun can cause devastating interference with electronics and  radio frequencies, rendering them completely unusable. So the world is aware these exist, but they never got too far in developing them since they would constantly overcharge and malfunction. Now, an aurora is caused when the particles of the solar wind are caught in the magnetic field of the planet. This happens at a higher altitude in the empire (stronger magnetic field here) so the color is usually red (collisions with oxygen atoms).

In the Outlands it would be similar to the one on Earth, but more wide spread - the magnetic field being closer to the planet’s surface.  Sometimes you can see the particles of the solar wind going through your head when your eyes are closed. These places outside the Empire are mostly a deserted wasteland, with red colored earth (I had Mars’ landscape in mind).

These little facts will most likely not come up in game, but I thought they’re nice little tidbits^^ And now, more aesthetics. General mood of the Summersmead Empire: (same middle pic, cause it’s goddam perfect)

Castle vibes:

[evaemiel]

During some research on fortune teller machines (don’t ask) I was suddenly vividly and painfully reminded of the existence of 9:The Last Resort, the kind of game that by all accounts should be a childhood fever dream.

It was the game that introduced me to the word ‘chasm‘ and gave me a great fear of an oversized head with the body of a vintage airplane (again, don’t ask).

But it also featured Isadora, a beautiful fortune teller (machine?), that I think I’m still in love with today.

[galadriel1010]

Hey, did you know that the Nairn company used to run a regular bus service from Baghdad to Cairo, starting in the 1920s, that could actually beat the plane for speed? Among the problems the buses encountered were attacks by tribes who knew they were carrying gold, lava roads that wrecked the cars to hell and back, and temperatures so hot the tires sometimes caught fire. Fun fact! https://martintristramrose.org/2016/09/24/running-to-catch-the-bus-1/

[legitimatesatanspawn]

I just wasted three hours doing research into the total prices of movie tickets (with/without the free membership, at different times, and on different days), transportation (if I went to a theater further off), concessions (and again: applying free membership discount and double checking for combos and specific day deals), and whether it was worth going somewhere after the showing.

So from what would've been $38 for a movie + small drink and popcorn... instead it's $13 for the same exact thing on a Tuesday afternoon.

So that's a third of the price to wait for a specific day. Less if I forgo the soda+popcorn.

Because a place a few blocks over has a full meal for another $13 (entre + side + soda, extra appetizer), and another has a really good looking dessert for $6.

Next Tuesday will be a very nice belated birthday treat.

[cglenwilliams]

I should probably be ashamed of screenshotting myself from another social media platform and posting it here on Tumblr.

I should be ashamed, but I'm probably not going to be.

[adinafay]

Random rabbit-hole I went down this evening: rice syndrome

I've seen many an internet PSA about not reheating/being very careful with leftover rice because of the risk of Bacillus cereus.

I have seen even more commentary that boils down to "white people better stop telling asians to stop reheating rice because it's a core tenet of our people"

and for whatever reason, tonight, my brain was like "I need to know why this argument is such a thing"

Initial hypotheses were centered around my general understanding of different cultural preferences and practices regarding rice consumption (brown/white) and preparation (rinsed/unrinsed, cooker/stovetop) along with the potential for geographic differences in presence/prevalence of B. cereus.

I learned:

- B. cereus is ubiquitous globally and in damn near 100% of rice (and also found in many other things, particularly starchy food products) but only a few of the many, many strains produce the enterotoxins that cause illness.

- even though the potentially deleterious strains are less common in North America than the benign ones, NA has a higher ratio of B. cereus illnesses/rice consumption than China.

- Outbreaks in China are almost exclusively associated with school cafeterias

- People in NA eat more brown rice than people in other global regions while asian cultures (stereotypically but truly) consume primarily white rice

- there is no significant difference in the amount of B. cereus present in uncooked white and brown rice

- brown rice has a much shorter shelf-life than white rice because the bran/germ contain oils and proteins that go rancid.

- Brown rice also has a higher moisture content (with the bran removed, the endosperm is able to dry out more thoroughly in white rice)

- asian cultures/recipes more consistently rinse rice than do their western counterparts

-rinsing rice does not reduce bacterial load, but does reduce starch

-most B. cereus strains form highly resilient and temperature tolerant endospores (cannot readily be killed by cooking or freezing)

- B. cereus quantity *can* still be mitigated in cooked rice by reducing exposure to bacterially ideal temperature and humidity (ya know, like you learn in Food Safety 101)

- cooked rice (because of hot-cooking methods and high moisture content) grows bacteria faster than many other foods (recommended timeframe for put-away is 60-90m instead of 2-4hr @ room temp)

-People participating in asian cultures are (evidentially) more likely to own/use rice cookers and (anecdotally) more likely to both eat leftover rice and have left that rice to sit in the rice cooker overnight or even days

- rice cookers are insulated and may also have "keep warm" features that prevent foods from entering the "danger zone" temps

So, now, my hypothetical takeaways Re: B. cereus & Rice is:

- the bacterial strains are mostly benign so standard food-safety is generally sufficient for maintaining the safety of leftover rice

- uncooked brown rice is gana go bad (AKA: grow extra bacteria) like 8x faster and people not knowing that probably leads to a lot of aching tummies

- rinsed rice has less starch and lower starch possibly = reduced resources for the multiplication of bacteria post-cooking

- it may be easier/better to keep leftover rice at a safe med/high temp than safely cool it for fridge or freezer - especially for larger quantities

- The Western white people putting out rice syndrome PSAs should, indeed, probably stop talking and instead just learn how to handle it properly. And also stop pushing brown rice over white rice.

- (no evidence for this, vibes only) you should never - never ever forever - eat rice or rice-based dishes from a school cafeteria, buffet, or similarly bulk and/or sketchy location.

What I did not look into that may also be relevant: whether there may be an ancestral-asian trait for higher tolerance of B. cereus enterotoxins.

Bonus fact: the nutritional value of brown rice is higher on paper than white rice but lower in practice for everything except ✨fiber✨because 1) the presence of the bran reduces digestibility, 2) there are several compounds in the germ that reduce nutrient availability, and 3) a majority of white rice on the market is enriched with most of the nutrients that the initial processing removes.

[sab-vs-self]

Picking out the interesting facts and figures from the IBM research insights report "Augmented work for an automated, AI-driven world"

Executives estimate that 40% of their workforce will need to re-skill as a result of implementing AI and automation over the next three years. That translates to 1.4 billion of the 3.4 billion people in the global workforce, according to World Bank statistics.

What sort of reskilling? On average, 87% of executives expect job roles to be augmented, rather than replaced, by generative AI. That figure is closer to three-quarters in marketing (73%) and customer service (77%)—and more than 90% in procurement (97%), risk and compliance (93%), and finance (93%).

AI and automation are creating a new division of labour between humans and machines. The World Economic Forum (WEF) predicts this evolution will disrupt 85 million jobs globally between 2020 and 2025—and create 97 million new job roles.

More than three in four executives say entry-level positions are already being impacted, while only 22% say the same for executive or senior management roles.

As AI continues to evolve, its effects will likely intensify across the board, including at the managerial and executive ranks. No level is immune to the impact. This will force executives to rethink job roles, skill sets, and how work gets done.

Read it for some more context on the reskilling and the insights they found on how employees view their work. The whole thing is pretty interesting, and I was hoping to get a salve for my doomerism. It was a tiny bit helpful.

[s0lar-ch3ri]

hey everybody heres what ive learned in my learinings

it is almost 1 fucking am.

[headspace-hotel]

It is just me, or would it be easier to genetically engineer more plants to have similar yields as the dominant crops, rather than genetically engineer the dominant crops to be resistant to all conditions and challenges? The former involves manipulating relatively few genes, while the latter involves as yet unknown processes that may not even work.

The issue is funding. But we made that up, so surely we can get around it.

[thesargasmicgoddess]

Update on the current state of my PhD hoe life...

Sprinkles and iced tea for a topless/bottomless lunch sounds about right for the mental capacity I have right now 🤣🤣

[bluerosefox]

The Trouble With Time Travel Guilt

Danny, due to a nightmare of his future evil self, does what any young hero teen with internet access would do late at night.

Starts a 'AITA' thread asking if it he was an asshole for destroying an entire timeline, even if said timeline population was a wasteland due to said evil version of himself almost destroying all life at the moment, by swearing to never become him (Dan) and locking his evil self away. And should he feel as bad as he does because of everything his no longer future self did??

He... wasn't expecting a lot of other people (some seem to teens his age, he even made friends with some like R3dRobyum~) that may or may not have experienced time travel too and dealing with this odd sense of guilt.

[mothzan]

Skk as ruby and sapphire

Character design idea below

+ the original

[comfort-character-central]

What am I doing? Oh, I'm just doing some educated research, learning about topics that fascinate me.

*Goes back to my screen where there are 5 tabs on my computer, all different things related to the character I'm currently fixated on.*